THE RAPID RISE OF TIK TOK

Social Media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have made quite the noise in the social media space.  But these apps now have a new, common contender that is taking the world by storm, and that is Gen  Tik Tok. Tik Tok was Founded in 2017 by a Chinese parent company ByteDance, and it evolved into TikTok, which is a video-sharing app. The app has been downloaded more than 2 billion times since its launch and topped the charts for being the most downloaded app for the year 2018, above its competitors. Amongst its major accomplishments, Tik Tok is also considered to be the 9th most used app in terms of Social networking sites, which puts it ahead of other competitors like LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat. So what is the secret behind Tik Tok gaining major popularity amidst the masses?

Tik Tok’s success could be owed a lot to the thirst of internet-based video content as well as the youth’s usage of the Social Media space. With due credit, Tik Tok also worked in developing a user-friendly interface that allowed its users to create videos without much of a hassle. Tik Tok struck gold among the youth when it merged in with Musically. While Musically was entirely music-based but Tik Tok offers more scope of creativity for the content creators to work with interesting categories of dance, beauty tips, comedy, fashion, food, and other such topics to showcase your creativity. On the other hand, for the viewers, they have so many categories to entertain themselves with. Thus, this caused a  balance for Tik Tok and adding more success to their brand. Tik Tok’s algorithm is very,  well worked, and strategized, where it seems like a merge between Instagram and Youtube. You get the option of scrolling through countless short videos that serve the purpose of being useful and entertaining. Tik Tok worked out a well laid out plan to create a buzz amongst the masses, by partnering up with Actors, Social media Influencers, and celebrities to create content for their platform and, thus, as a result,  motivated more of the youth to start using the app. The pandemic that has forced lockdowns to be implemented has also benefited Tik Tok as it adds more free time for people to take interest in it.

Although Tik Tok was developed in China, it grew out of the county into competitive markets and has created such an impact that it is now used by people all across the globe.  This is something that the creators of Tik Tok could also take pride in.

However, Tik Tok has faced many hurdles in recent times and a whole lot of criticism. The app has been, accused of invading personal privacy along with security flaws and hosting content that relates to politics. As a result, this has created major backlash for the app. Tik Tok spiked up in popularity amongst the youth of India, but it quickly came crumbling down. Its rapid downfall in India began when a content creator posted a clip that glorifies acid attacks on women, and several other videos of women being abused were posted on the app. This, caused major criticism against the app and the content that it allows to stream through its platform, calling for the app to be banned, and the political tensions between India and China added more fuel to the fire. Therefore, the Indian government decided to ban the app in the country.

However, Tik Tok still has quite the journey to endure when it comes to gaining a similar market share like its competitors, Facebook, and Instagram. Only time will tell if Bytedance’s most lethal weapon will last in the global, competitive market.